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﻿Woodward Avenue In Line For On-Street Bike Rack

FERNDALE (WWJ/AP) – A stretch of Detroit-area roadway that’s beloved by classic car aficionados is expected to get a little friendlier for bicyclists.

Woodward Avenue will soon have its first on-street bike rack in Ferndale. It’s part of a broader effort to make Michigan roads more amenable to other forms of traffic, including mass transit, bicycles and pedestrians.

“We’re one of the few communities in the state that is putting bike racks in on-street parking bays on our main roads,” said Cristina Sheppard-Decius, executive director of Ferndale’s Downtown Development Authority. “I think what this does for Woodward is even bigger, because it is a state highway.”

The Detroit-area thoroughfare is the site of the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, which draw tens of thousands of classic and vintage cars each summer. It’s promoted as the world’s largest one-day automotive event and celebrates the Motor City’s past.

Ferndale officials last year approved installing a rack for 12 bikes in a Woodward Avenue parking area. Recently, the Michigan Department of Transportation, which controls Woodward Avenue and many other state roadways, gave the OK for the plans.

“We are really a multi-modal agency and we embrace these different forms of transportation,” said MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi.

The rack will be protected from traffic with MDOT-approved barriers. Ferndale has a number of other bike racks in its downtown area. Woodward Avenue doesn’t have dedicated biking lanes, but Sheppard-Decius said she hopes that might happen in the future.